


A Perfect Windsor Knot

by Bialy



Category: My Time At Portia (Video Game)
Genre: Briar and Bramble verse, F/M, Fluff, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:02:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24952021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bialy/pseuds/Bialy
Summary: Higgins and the Builder have a secret. Pure fluff, spin-off from Briar and Bramble but can be read as a standalone.
Relationships: Female Builder/Higgins (My Time At Portia)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 50





	A Perfect Windsor Knot

**Author's Note:**

> (all I know, when I'm with you, this life is better  
> everything as it should be, when we're together)
> 
> Based off my multichap fic, Briar and Bramble, but if you haven't read it you should be able to read this fine and not miss much, just a few references here and there. If you're just here for oneshot Higgins fluff, welcome and enjoy - yes, he's softer here.

“Stop _fidgeting_.”

“I cannot tell you how much I do not need you to sort my tie for me. I managed it for an awfully long time without you, you know.” Higgins glances down, aching a brow. “And you’re not very good at it.”

Cat pursues her lips and slaps his chest gently, goes back to fiddling with his tie. “I _like_ sorting it. And I think you like it, too, even if you are being Mr Grumpypants about it.”

There is a very faint blush in his cheeks, one that Cat can only really detect up close like this. Balancing on her toes, she stretches up and places a kiss either side of his nose. The blush deepens, just a little.

“People are going to think I’ve lost my wits if I go out with my tie like this,” Higgins says to her, in the tone of someone explaining something to a small child.

“Well, I don’t wear ties. I haven’t really had an opportunity to practice.” Cat steps back, hands on her hips, and lets out an exaggerated sigh. “And every time I try to _improve_ , my _boyfriend_ won’t stop fidgeting and grumbling about it.”

Higgins looks a little abashed at that, and steps forward, looping his arms around his waist. “I suppose I’m still getting used to that. Being...you know. A boyfriend. _Your_ boyfriend.”

She relaxes into him, fussing with his tie again but only affectionately. “That’s what all this secrecy is in aid of, remember? Giving us a chance to work out what it’s like. Being together. Besides, it’s a little exciting, all the sneaking around.”

He gives her a sly smile, obviously remembering one or two particular incidents of ‘sneaking around’ that still make Cat’s face burn when she recalls them. What Higgins may lack in approachability, he certainly makes up for in...other areas. She runs a finger down his chest and reaches up again to kiss him, this time matching her lips to his.

“It can be exciting,” he admits, when they pull apart. “But a part of me wants...a part of me wonders...”

“What it would be like to just go about as a couple? Go on dates to The Round Table, go stargazing without caring who sees?” She raises her eyebrows and adds, “Go to the hot springs together?”

Higgins matches her grin for a moment before sobering. “Yes. Exactly. And I want us to do that, but I’m also...worried.”

Cat folds her hands into the collar of his shirt and frowns. “Worried about what?”

He seems to consider his words before speaking. “Even though things are a lot better between us – publicly – and even though I’m _trying_ to be less...less... _abrasive_ , there are still a number of...comments.”

Cat’s frown deepens. “What comments? From who?”

He waves a hand, batting her questions away. “It doesn’t matter. It just makes me wonder – worry, I suppose – about the reaching if – when – people find out about us. You’re fairly _beloved_ , after all.” His tone curls a little on the word, the way it might have once upon a time, but Cat can sense the very different feeling behind it now, and scootches closer to press her face into his shoulder. When she first moved here, and then for a very long time afterwards, she wouldn’t have thought people’s opinions were something that would have bothered Higgins at all. But that’s different now. Maybe it always has been, and she just never bothered to look closely enough to notice.

In truth, it’s something that’s been on her mind, too. She has never wanted to be the centre of gossip, and has gone out of her way to avoid it as much as possible, but Portia is a small town an a lot of people here don’t have much to do but talk. When she and Higgins do make their relationship public, there probably will be comments. Opinions. And even though the thought sours in her stomach, there will probably be some people suggesting she can to better than the pompous Builder with no time for the community.

They’re keeping things quiet to let themselves work each other out, it’s true. But there’s definitely worry there, for both of them. It’s a new world and not one either of them has a lot of experience exploring.

They stand entwined like that in her small kitchen, quiet but together, for a few more minutes. Then Higgins kisses the top of her head. “We should get going. The Fireside will be starting soon.”

*

Higgins leaves Cat at her door and begins to circle round the walls, to approach Peach Plaza from the direction of his workshop rather than hers. He will be a little late, but the first few minutes are essentially all pomp and circumstance anyway. By the time he gets there, Cat is arm in arm with Ginger, heads bowed close together. As he approaches the crowd, both women look up and catch his eye. Cat offers him a small, warm smile, and Ginger’s eyes glint knowingly.

Ginger is the only person in town they have told about their relationship. Partly because she is a good friend and confidant to both of them, and partly because she had begun to embark on a matchmaking crusade for them and it felt rude to make her waste her effort. She had, of course, been utterly delighted, and a great source of support to Higgins himself on the days when, wracked with insecurity, he wonders what the hell he is doing dating the town’s darling when it feels most people would be happier if he just up and away. Ginger permits precisely none of that type of thinking, and those days usually end with him wrapped up in Cat’s arms, kissing her like a drowning man longs for air.

Gale clears his throat for attention. As everyone quiets own, he beams around at the crowd. “Well, it’s been another quiet week...”

Higgins tunes out a little and lets his gaze drift around the crowd. Sonia is seated on the edge of the fountain, looking bored. Django and Emily are over by the table of pumpkin pies, hands linked. And Albert and Gust are stood at the edge of the crowd, slightly apart, close enough to almost be touching.

Seeing them reminds Higgins of how glad he is that he and Cat had decided to keep their relationship under wraps to begin with. Albert and Gust had been assaulted with overeager well-wishes at the same time as being the subject of a quiet stream of gossip flowing through the town. He remembers Cat telling him, perturbed, the impact it was having – Gust is and always has been an extremely private person and while Albert relished the attention, it left Gust sour and antsy. Cat had confided in him that their fledgling romance had almost ended as a result, but the affection between them clearly ran deeper than a little gossip could stopper.

Still, it didn’t seem pleasant. And both Gust and Albert were reasonably well-liked.

Higgins lets his gaze drift across to Cat and Ginger. Cat’s hair is loose this evening, a way she’s started wearing it more often ever since he commented offhandedly how good it looked down. She still piles her hair up into her customary messy bun for work, but in the evenings, or on her days off, she lets it loose, and he knows it is for him.

There are dozens of little things that like. Tiny changes in behaviour that she’s made, that he’s made, simply because they know it will bring some measure of delight to the other. And Cat was right when she said that the secrecy could be somewhat thrilling. Just after she had started wearing her hair down, Sam had teased her about trying to turn heads and Cat had smiled across the room at him, and said, “I hope so.”

He decides he will let her fuss with his tie more often. He can live with a clumsy knot now and then if it makes her happy. And when she does it, her brow furrows adorably and her fingers brush against his chest, and if he is quite honest with himself he can never think of anywhere he would rather be.

“That’s it for another Fireside, please help yourself to some of Sophie’s delicious pies!”

Higgins steps back and out of the crowd as it moves towards the pie table behind Django and Emily. Mint materialises at his side and jerks his head in the direction of The Round Table. “If we head in now, we’ll get seats before this pie-hungry bunch.”

Higgins raises his eyebrows. “Aren’t _you_ going to miss out on pie, then?”

Mint grins, looking very self-satisfied. “Ginger is grabbing me some.”

Higgins almost asks, but then decides against it. He follows Mint to the restaurant, snagging a corner booth with seats for Gust and Albert, if they ever turn up.

The four of them have been meeting for post-Fireside meetings for a few weeks now. It started after the completion of the Harbour, but have become largely more social than anything else. Cat sometimes drops by, but often she’s seized upon by various other groups of her friends, her time split between everyone who wants her attention.

Higgins considers himself quite lucky to get so much of it, undivided.

Mint orders for the group once Sonia arrives, and after a few minutes more people start spilling in, Albert and Gust among them. Gust slides into the seat next to Mint and hands his a napkin-wrapped piece of pie.

“From my sister.”

“Tell her thanks!”

It would have probably been quite a different interaction a few months ago. Now, though, Gust makes no comment about the growing closeness between Ginger and Mint, no dig about how the latter is become ever more involved in his family.

Things change, after all.

Albert drops down next to Higgins. “Well! Reasonable week, chaps?”

They settle in as their food starts to arrive, exchanging stories from the week. Higgins still finds it a little hard to know what to say, what to share. Part of that is his hidden relationship, but part of it is simply this: he has never really been good with people. Gust has always understood that – has always been rather the same, but where Higgins became brash to compensate, Gust became quiet and snarky. Yet here they both are, coupled up, having a regular dinner with friends.

Yep, things do change.

Higgins glances up at the door occasionally, but Cat doesn’t come in. They have plans for a quiet dinner at hers tomorrow, but still, it would be nice to see more of her tonight. They hadn’t had much time together earlier before the Fireside – both their weekend commissions has turned into bigger projects than expected – so he had hoped she would join their little group this evening.

Things wind down after a while. They divvy up the bill and head their separate ways, Gust and Albert heading off together hand in hand in the direction of Albert’s house.

“Aw,” Mint says as they go. “The perfect couple.”

“Is that something you ever think about?” Higgins asks him. “A relationship?”

Mint’s cheeks are pink-tinged as he answered. “Well, not at first. I guess the longer I’m here though...and it seems like there are more couples than ever lately. Those two, Sam and Phyllis, Emily and Django...”

_Me and Cat_ , Higgins thinks.

“...but I don’t know. Even if you like someone that way, you don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, you know?” Mint shoots him a sidelong look, lightening fast, and Higgins turns to him.

“What do you mean?”

Mint is quite red now, and staring at his shoes. “I do, maybe, think I have feelings for someone. But I don’t know if you – I mean, you’re close to her and I guess I wondered if you felt that way, too, and I didn’t want to...you know...get in the way?”

A cold feeling settles in Higgins’ gut. Is Mint talking about Cat? “Who is it?” he asks, trying to keep his tone neutral.

Not Cat, Heavens, please, Mint is one of his only real friends here, not Cat -

“Ginger,” Mint says quietly, and everything in Higgins uncoils in relief. He lets out a small huff of a laugh, and Mint looks up at him, alarmed. “Is it funny?”

“No! No,” Higgins hurries to reassure him. “No. It’s just – I don’t have any feelings for Ginger. You don’t have to worry. Not about that.”

Mint’s shoulders sag. “That’s a relief. I don’t...I don’t know if I’d ever, you know, do anything about it. I don’t want to upset Gust, and...” He trails off.

“Why don’t you speak to Cat about it?” Higgins suggests. “She’s friends with both of you, and she helped with Albert and Gust. I heard,” he tacks on, unsure how common knowledge her involvement was.

Mint appears to consider that. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. She was willing to help me out with Gust. And everyone seems to like her. She could have some good advice, even if she isn’t really seeing anybody.”

Higgins prickles a little, wants to tell Mint that actually, Cat is seeing someone, and she’s very happy. Instead, he just nods.

“I’m glad the two of you are getting along better,” Mint adds. “It’s nice when we all have dinner together.”

“It is,” Higgins agrees.

Mint laughs. “Who knows, maybe one day you and her will get together!”

Higgins gives him a wry smile. “Stranger things have happened.”

*

The light is on over his workshop porch, which surprises him. He thought he had turned it off before leaving to see Cat earlier that day. He unlocks the door and heads inside, unbuttoning his vest and checking the clock as he heads towards his bedroom.

“Well hello, handsome.”

Higgins nearly jumps out of his skin, but the feeling quickly morphs into something altogether more pleasant when he turns to see Cat in the door frame of his room, wearing a short nightgown he had brought back from Atara for her the last time he had been there on business. It always looks even better on her than he remembers.

“My dear alleycat, sneaking into my house, now?” he purrs, as she draws towards him.

“I didn’t want to wait to see you,” she says, with so much affection Higgins is sure his heart stutters for a second before remembering how to beat in time. She presses a kiss against his mouth, one full of a lot more promise and intent than her kisses earlier in her kitchen.

“You needy little thing,” he murmurs, as she winds her arms around his neck tracing the line of his tie, hand trailing down to wrap around the length of it.

“Come to bed,” she whispers, tugging his tie.

She needs no practice in undoing it.

*

Later, when they are curled together, beginning to drift into sleep, the memory of his conversation with Mint resurfaces.

“Mint might be coming for you for romantic advice, by the way,” he mumbles sleepily into her hair.

Cat yawns. “Oh yeah? Who’s the lucky recipient of his affections?”

“Ginger,” he tells her. “He was worried I was interested in her. I only just caught myself before I pointed out how ridiculous that would be with you around. Though I was worried _he_ was interested in _you_.”

“You’re the only one for me, Higs,” she says, and his heart stutters again. “That’s convenient, though. Ginger rather fancies him, too.”

“An easy commission, then.”

“Even you couldn’t mess it up.”

He snorts into her neck and she twists round, tucking her body into his. He feels her breath against his skin and wraps his arms around her.

“Well, the more the better.”

She huffs a half laugh, and then yawns again.

“Night, Higgins.”

“Goodnight, Cat.”

In the morning, they will take separate paths to the Commerce Guild. But right now, they are here, together, and that matters so much more.


End file.
